Chapter 00: Prologue

Daikichi Sakoda, a second-year student in the upper school, is so inconspicuous that his presence is as faint as his shadow. In short, he’s what one might call a “loner.”

However, he is also the kind of boy who, due to certain circumstances, frequently takes on the school’s problems—leading a rather busy life despite everything.

After finishing a task assigned by the school once again after class that day, Daikichi quietly made his way to the floor where the first-year classrooms are located, slipped into a hiding spot, and then peeked out to gaze down the corridor.

At the end of his line of sight stood none other than the first-year female student Hanakumori Sakurazaki. Daikichi wasn’t stalking her or anything; he was simply checking on Sakurazaki because it was personally important to him.

――And then, he couldn’t help but laugh.

――Yeah, that’s definitely laughable.

――Right? …Huh? Daichan-senpai? You’re here again?

Sakurazaki noticed Daikichi’s gaze and turned to look his way.

Daikichi hurriedly pulled his face back.

He had always believed that being caught was pointless and that he should leave immediately once noticed—but it seemed that girls were particularly sensitive to presence and gaze.

It wasn’t the first time Daikichi had been spotted by Sakurazaki; it had happened repeatedly.

(Why does he always get caught?)

Now being called “Daichan-senpai” and having girls pick on him at every opportunity, Daikichi felt as if he were nearing the point of exasperation.

Yet again that day, he had been spotted by Sakurazaki. Soon after, a smirking Sakurazaki approached him.

“Daichan-senpai, what’s up? Ah, I get it—you can’t go home alone, right? In other words… are you Red Eke-chan? Wanna go home together? Shall we hold hands?”

“I have no intention of going home with you… nor do I plan to hold hands… anyway, it’s good to see you’re doing well. See you.”

“Ah, you ran away! Wait… so fast!”

Every time Sakurazaki spotted him, Daikichi had taken off running. Thanks to that, he had become fast enough to shake her off in no time.

When he no longer heard Sakurazaki’s voice, Daikichi glanced back once, but her figure had already vanished.

Thinking to himself that he had escaped again that day, Daikichi, relieved, headed toward the entrance to go home. However, right in front of him stood a familiar face—a girl from the lower school.

Sazanka Tsubaki.

She was Daikichi’s cousin.

Since the lower and upper schools were in separate buildings and rarely crossed paths, Tsubaki had come specifically to see him.

Moreover, she had brought friends along—five lower school girls trailing behind her.

Tsubaki pointed at Daikichi and said,

“This is my cousin in the upper school! He’s such a weakling, so we should all take him around!”

Tsubaki, being as impudent as was typical for her age—much like Sakurazaki—simply wanted to mess around with Daikichi.

However, Daikichi wasn’t the type to enjoy hanging out with younger girls, so he decided to run away, just as he had with Sakurazaki.

“The weakling ran away! Give chase~!”

“Okay!”

Giggling, Tsubaki and her friends started chasing after him. However, they couldn’t catch up with the honed speed Daikichi had developed for escaping.

Leaving behind Tsubaki’s shout of “Wait~,” Daikichi slipped out through the school gate. Then, his smartphone in his bag chimed with a chat notification.

“…Eleanor-san, huh?”

The sender was Eleanor, the English teacher, and the message read: 『Please take care of picking up Sachiko today』

Due to various circumstances, Daikichi was quite close with Eleanor, so she often asked him to pick up her daughter, Sachiko.

They didn’t just live in the same apartment building—their rooms were even next to each other.

Daikichi swiftly typed out 『Understood』 on his phone and, without any detours, headed toward the after-school care center near the elementary school that Sachiko attended.

At the after-school care center, Sachiko was playing with her friends. When Daikichi called out to her, she said goodbye to them, grabbed her school bag, and came running over.

“Daikichi! Aren’t you with Mom today…?”

“Today it’s not Mom—it’s me. Come on, let’s go home.”

“Oh, by the way, today is the broadcast day for 『Let’s Go Machi-chan』.”

“Let’s watch it together when we get home. It’s only free on broadcast days, so if you miss it, you’d have to pay—and Eleanor-san would never allow that.”

“It’s okay if you secretly spend money, Daikichi, you know?”

“That depends on the situation.”

Considering Daikichi’s age, his everyday life—though noisy—could hardly be called enjoyable. He didn’t have a girlfriend, the younger girls said whatever they wanted, and he didn’t even have any close friends.

Even so, there were things he had to do.

Yet Daikichi never resented his current situation. There were various reasons for that—but when it came down to it, it was simply because that was just who he was.